Leopard 4
The Leopard 4 main battle tank is a 3rd generation main battle tank designed by Krauss Maffei, Maschinenbau and Rheinmetall for the German Wehrmacht and SF, and most notably succeeding the incredibly successful Leopard 3. The vehicle is maintained with top of the line equipment and weaponry, as well as Yevata composite armor, boosting the tank's protection. History Design and Development Following the development of the Leopard 3A7, it was clearly needed that a new MBT was to be developed in order to stay ahead of the coalition's armored divisions. There were clear signs that the chassis was nearing it's end of usefulness, and any other major modifications would start to overweigh the suspension, and put pressure on the current engine. With designers already developing a heavier main battle tank, all was needed was a better armor protection and weaponry. To create a stopgap, the Leopard 3A8 was constructed in an attempt to keep the tank force updated while Leopard 4 was under development. Following a discussion with the Terran Dominion, Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Strasse was able to attain one Matilda main battle tank for examination of it's valuable composite armor and weapon systems. Three sections of the armor were removed from the tank for evaluation, and the particle beam was too. After examination of the composite, designs were ordered to have prototypes developed, and the first was presented, and ordered for production. The model was to have a wider set of tracks and stronger suspension, along with a newly designed turret without spaced armor, and the ability to mount a railgun or particle beam. The engine, was first requested to be a micro nuclear reactor, however initial models did not have them, since the Terran Dominion did not supply them yet, leading to the heavier weight of the tank slowing it down, and decreasing the potential agility it would receive with the reactor. The vehicle was expected to weigh 90 tons, but later modifications began to raise the number to over 100 tons. Production The first batch of Leopard 4s arrived in mid-October, and would be deployed within Greater Germany to participate in parades within Berlin and several other larger cities. Following the arrival of the Terran Dominion's reactor, the Leopard 4A1 was put into production, and the Leopard 4 slowly decreased until production ceased overall. Replacement Following a majority of the designs, the Leopard 4's chassis was showing similar signs to her predecessor, of stress on the chassis, and unable to make improvement, and the order by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht to develop a sucessor. Design Protection The Leopard 4 uses the Clypeus (Shield) composite armor, a German licensed version of the Yevata Composite armor given to them by the Dominion, which has an estimated effectiveness of 100mm of the composite to 500mm of rolled homogenous armor, making the tank virtually impervious to normal anti-tank guns from the front and from the sides. The angled frontal armor is designed to have the tank deflect high powered railgun rounds from a distance, with tests using it's own railgun showing the vehicle can deflect the rounds from 2,000 meters away. Unlike her predecessor, the spaced armor on the front of the turret is not required due to the high angling and thickness, and instead certain models of the tank received skirts composed of the composite to protect the side armor, and make an intended goal to shatter oncoming projectiles. Following the Leopard 4A4, it is not until the Leopard 4A7 where the side skirts are returned, though only around the turret. The reason for the installation of the side skirts was due to the addition of live ammunition within the turret for the grenade launchers, to make a possible attempt to disable oncoming shots. Secondary Protection Unlike the previous early Leopard 3 models, the early Leopard 4 models used tungsten rods for railgun ammunition, thereby making the need for protected ammunition racks null. This allowed the tank to carry a larger amount of ammunition within the crew's compartment. Following the introduction of particle beam weaponry on the tank, the need for ammunition is removed, and one section is replaced by a storage area for the MG5 when removed from it's mount, and grenade launcher ammunition for a few later models. The crew is also protected against nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) threats, as the tank is equipped with a Dräger NBC overpressurization system, which provides up to 4 millibars (4.0 hPa) over-pressure inside the vehicle like it's predecessor. Armament Primary The initial armament was the 140mm L/55 railgun for the Leopard 4 and 4A1. Following the 4A2, the length was increased to an L/60 to increase penetration, and then an L/74 for the 4A3, and finally a L/75 for the 4A4. Once the Leopard 4A5 was introduced, the railgun was replaced with a particle beam, negating the need for ammunition since energy was brought straight from the reactor, and was given an L/55 for each model onward, with an L/44 being made for urban warfare models. Secondary The Commander's 20mm MG turret is replaced by two Rheinmetall MK 120 Rh201 12.7mm machine guns, and two 40mm grenade launchers. and the coaxial 20mms are replaced by an MG5. The 4A5 models and onward are given side mounted 40mm grenade launchers capable of firing smoke grenades or normal grenades that are capable of being reloaded from the interior, where ammunition for the equipment replaces where the railgun rounds formally were. On Urban Warfare variants, the MG5 is removed due to combat exercises showing it was constantly being damaged from enemy fire from buildings, while the Commander's turret had enough armor to protect it's MGs from normal munitions. Fire Control The standard fire control system found on the Leopard 4 is the German EMES 2015 fire control system with a dual magnification stabilized primary sight. The primary sight has an integrated neodymium yttrium aluminium garnet Nd:YAG laser rangefinder and a 120 element Mercury cadmium telluride, HgCdTe (also known as CMT) Zeiss thermographic camera, both of which are linked to the tank's fire control computer. A backup 10x auxiliary telescope FERO-Z2015 is mounted coaxially for the gunner. The commander has an independent periscope, the Rheinmetall/Zeiss PERI-R 17 A2. The PERI-R 17 A2 is a stabilised panoramic periscope sight designed for day/night observation and target identification; it provides an all round view with a traverse of 360°. The thermal image from the commander's periscope is displayed on a monitor inside the tank. The Leopard 4A8 system was mounted with two infrared night vision backup systems for the driver and gunner, along with three additional camera systems, one mounted in the gun mantlet, and two mounted at the muzzle of the particle beam. The fire control suite is capable of providing up to three range values in two seconds. The range data is transmitted to the fire control computer and is used to calculate the firing solution. Also, because the laser rangefinder is integrated into the gunner's primary sight, the gunner is able to read the digital range measurement directly. The maximum range of the laser rangefinder is just less than 10,000 m with a measuring accuracy to within 20 m at this range. The combined system allows the Leopard 4 to engage moving targets at ranges of up to 5,000 meters whilst itself being on the move over rough terrain. Propulsion The Leopard 4 uses a MTU MB 890 Ka-600 Micro Nuclear Reactor, a license model of a Terran Dominion reactor, which has over 30,000 horsepower at 2,900 rpm, allowing it to achieve feats that earlier Leopard 3 models were not able to do. The reactor allows the tank to have a virtually infinite range, as long as the fuel cells are resupplied, and the vehicle is kept in working condition. The reactor and transmission are both separated, and have a heavy shield of lead to prevent radiation from affecting the crew. Despite the 100-ton weight, the vehicle is surprisingly agile at a speed of 80 km/h due to the addition of the tank. The Renk HWSL 360 transmission has four forward gears, and two reverse. The Leopard 4 has a torsion bar suspension, and has advanced friction dampers. The running gear consists of seven dual rubber-tyred road wheels and four return rollers per side, with the idler wheel at the front and drive sprocket at the rear. Later models are given additional road wheels to compensate for the new weight and modifications. The tracks are Diehl 600G tracks, with rubber-bashed end connectors, which have removable rubber pads and use 82 links on each track. For use in icy ground, up to 18 rubber pads can be replaced by the same number of grousers, which are stored in the vehicle's bow when not in use. The upper part of the tracks are covered with side skirts, with the first two road wheels and idler covered by an armoured skirt. The Leopard 4 can drive through water 4 meters (13 ft) deep using a snorkel or 1.2 meters (3 ft 11 in) without any preparation. It can climb vertical obstacles over one metre high. Combat History Siege of Tobruk Following the AIF's occupation of Tobruk for Operation Desert Fox, the Wehrmacht dispatched a large battalion of 100,000 soldiers to retake the city from the AIF, a large portion being from the Afrika Korps. Since the Leopard 4 had not reached North Africa in numbers, a majority of the tank force composed of outdated Leopard 3s, with only two armored divisions receiving the new tank to fight against the more powerful AIF hover tanks. Variants Leopard 4 First model of the series which used a 1,900 horsepower engine . Leopard 4A1 The first in the series to receive a nuclear reactor, allowing more power to be diverted to the railgun, and to be able to charge the rounds faster. Leopard 4A2